yoderjac
Well-Known Member
Not for hunting that I know of. In high deer density area some of the population control methods have been to hire sharpshooters that kill deer at night and over bait.
The point of the question may have been to differentiate between ethics and laws. To my way of thinking, Ethics is doing the "right" thing. While obeying the law is one consideration, there are others. In most cases, ethics prevents us from (or causes us to) take some action before it becomes a legal decision. For example, "I won't take that shot because it is too long for my shooting skill to have a good chance of recovery. " In general, it is ethical to obey the law, but now always. One example I use in class is someone without a buck tag is bowhunting in the suburbs. A young buck comes by with an arrow sticking out of its butt, has a broken front leg and clearly has an infection. That deer will likely live for a few days but most likely not much longer. What do you do?
Harvest it and say nothing
Harvest it and turn your self in to the game warden
Let the deer walk knowing there is a good chance non-hunters will see it and give hunting a bad name and it will die in someone's back yard.
I personally find the first choice unethical and illegal. I find the second option ethical, but illegal. I find the third option legal but not ethical.
However, we all have to define our own ethics, so others may have a different view on the ethics of each of these choices.
